


You Said Forever

by Lillie_Moreau



Series: Strange Love [3]
Category: Leverage
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mild Language, Rare paring - Freeform, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-16
Updated: 2015-09-16
Packaged: 2018-04-21 01:12:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4809266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lillie_Moreau/pseuds/Lillie_Moreau
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A new take on why Eliot and Chapman don’t get along.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Said Forever

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Victoria666](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Victoria666).



> **I have named Chapman: James "Jaime" Chapman. I know I switch between using Jaime and Chapman but there is a purpose to it, it is not an inconsistency that I missed. Hopefully everyone understands what I did.
> 
> **I am also very happy with how this turned out! Sorry for the long comments at the start!
> 
> 1) So I noticed this paring has never been done before so I wanted to try something out. It's my way of explaining why Chapman and Eliot hate each other so much. I always felt it was much deeper than Eliot stealing Chapman's thunder but that is just me.
> 
> 2) There are direct lines from "The Big Bang Job" so I cannot take credit for those. All the credit goes to the writers: Chris Downey and Geoffrey Thorne.
> 
> 3) I am also guessing at the years when Eliot worked for Moreau seeing as it is never specified anywhere that I can find. I do apologize if anything is wrong.
> 
> 4) I do not own the characters of "Leverage" but I love that I am able to use them in my fan fiction.

You Said Forever

 **Present Day**  
Eliot sucked in a deep breath as they entered the pool area. He could feel himself shaking but he wasn’t about to let Hardison see his true emotions. He clenched his jaw tight as they walked down the side of the pool. As each guard pulled out their gun, Eliot counted the number of threats and knew that if they all started firing, it would be the last thing he and Hardison ever saw. Eliot observed the girls in the hot tub and realized that Moreau’s tastes hadn’t changed from when he worked for him. Moreau had always enjoyed being surrounded by both beautiful men and women. Eliot stopped counting the guards and noticed that Chapman was sitting at the main table and he couldn’t help but roll his eyes. He couldn’t say that he was exactly surprised to see that Chapman had taken over the head security position. 

Chapman narrowed his eyes, looking slightly amused that Eliot was back in the game. He stood up to meet the two men and immediately the rest of the guards surrounded them, pulling out their guns. There was the loud splashing of water and girls screaming as they ran for the dressing room to get out of harm’s way. In no time at all, Chapman found himself standing nose to nose with Eliot Spencer once again.

“Chapman,” Eliot said.

“Eliot,” Chapman replied.

“They gave you the job?” Eliot taunted, knowing that undermining the man’s authority was the best way to hurt him, even if Chapman showed no sign of irritation.

“There was an opening,” Chapman said, hoping that he would be able to bait Eliot into punching him.

As the two men were having a staring contest, the door to the steam room opened and Damien Moreau stepped out. He was drying off his hair when a surprised look crossed his face when he saw Eliot. He couldn’t help but smirk and throw the towel over his shoulder. He had never expected to see the man ever again.

“That’s no way to treat an old friend,” Moreau purred. It only took one look from their boss for the guards to lower their weapons. From the background Hardison gave the three men in front of him a surprised look. Moreau walked closer to Eliot and Chapman.

“Damien,” Eliot said softly. Moreau looked between Eliot and Chapman with an amused look on his face. He knew that the two were remembering everything that had ever happened between them.

“Let’s catch up!” Moreau stated, smiling and clapping his hands together. Eliot and Chapman continued to glare at each other. The two couldn’t help but remember the first time they had been forced to work together on a two month stake out.

_Tehran, 2000  
Chapman and Eliot carried their stuff into a hotel room that they had managed to secure under fake identities. They didn’t need the mark knowing they were onto him before it was time to carry out the hit. Eliot quickly claimed the bed by the door, forcing Chapman to take the bed by the window. They set their bags down and flopped down on their separate beds, totally exhausted. The trip from San Lorenzo to Iran had been much longer than they had thought even though they were on a private jet. After five minutes of resting, Chapman got off his bed and headed towards the bathroom._

_“I’m taking a shower before bed,” he announced. Eliot gave him a thumbs up but said nothing._

_As soon as the bathroom door shut, Eliot closed his eyes and started to drift off to sleep. He didn’t realize just how tired he was. However, no matter how much he tried to fall asleep he found that it was impossible. His mind was a blur with all the information that Damien Moreau had given him. Being vetted to be the next head of security was a taxing position. Moreau expected him and Chapman to learn the movements of the smuggler and his family. After there was no possible room for error, the two were told to extinguish the whole family. Eliot had killed his fair share of people but none of them had been innocent in any capacity of the word. However, he wanted the position badly enough that he was more than willing to compromise his moral compass._

_After a while, Chapman walked out of the bathroom, his dirty blonde hair messily tousled and wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. He turned his back to Eliot who was now sitting up on his bed and rifled through his suitcase. Eventually his found a nice big sleeping shirt and cotton sweats he had packed. While Eliot was admiring the muscular back of his accomplice he noticed several large and deep scars that lined the man’s back. Without thinking, Eliot got off the bed and moved to stand behind Chapman who immediately stiffened._

_“Can I help you, Spencer?” the man asked._

_“What happened? And stop calling me Spencer, I prefer Eliot,” he said. Chapman turned around and realized just how close the other man was standing to him. He did a double take when he realized just how blue Eliot’s eyes were._

_“If I tell you, you have to promise not to repeat it to anyone else. And my name is James Chapman but my friends call me Jaime. So I will call you Eliot if you call me Jaime” Chapman said._

_“So you’re considering me your friend?” Eliot asked. Jamie couldn’t help but chuckle at the other man’s surprise._

_“We are about to spend two months together on a stake out. That doesn’t exactly leave a lot of room for personal time. We are sharing a hotel room for god’s sake. I would hope you’re my friend and not going to kill me in my sleep,” Jaime pointed out. This time Eliot chuckled a little._

_“Fair point. Alright, Jaime, so what happened to your back?” Eliot questioned. Jaime sighed heavily and moved to sit down on his bed after he had redressed himself. When Jaime sat down, Eliot took a seat on his own bed._

_“It’s a rather long story but I suppose we have time for it since jet lag messes everyone up. It happen when I was only twenty-one years old. I was top of my class at Oxford as well as in my martial arts class and my family was really proud of me. My sister, on the other hand, was a drama queen and a drug addict. So one day I got a call from my father saying that she had been kidnapped and they were asking for a two million dollar ransom,” Jaime said._

_“Wow, that’s a high price. You must come from a wealthy family,” Eliot pointed out. Jaime smirked at him._

_“How on earth did you figure that out?” Jaime asked sarcastically, earning himself an eye roll from the older man. “Anyway I came home straight away and my father had already called the cops which obviously is the fastest way to get someone killed, except these men really wanted the two million. I mentioned that fact to my father but he ignored me. We were told to be at a central park at noon exactly and then make the wire transfer when we had my sister. So my father went to the park and my sister was waiting there for him. He transferred the money and then…” Jaime choked on his words and he put his hands in his face. Eliot could only imagine what had happened. He got off his bed slowly and wrapped his arms around his new friend._

_“What happened?” Eliot whispered. Tears were running down Jaime’s face and Eliot chastised himself for ever thinking that he was nothing more than a heartless mercenary._

_“As soon as the money transfer was completed, a sniper shot my sister in front of my father,” Jaime said. Eliot’s eyes widened and he held on tightly to the man. He didn’t know what he would do if someone shot his sister in such a cruel manner._

_“Jaime…I’m so sorry,” Eliot cooed, gently rocking him back and forth. Jaime continued to cry, wrapping his arms around Eliot as if he would anchor him to reality._

_“When my father got home he dragged me into his study which had a large fireplace in it. He forced me to kneel at gun point and strip my shirt off. He placed a fire poker in the flames and waited until it glowed orange. Then he dragged it across my back,” Jaime said. “I passed out somewhere around the second marking but even after I was unconscious my father marked me two more times. When I woke up I was still in the study and my father was working at his desk. I don’t even know how I managed to stand up and put my shirt on, but I did. My father informed me that he was pulling my tuition from Oxford as well as the fact that I was no longer welcome in his house. I had nowhere to go so I ran. I got lucky that I never contracted an infection. I made my way across Europe and that’s when Moreau found me. I was working as a hired gun in Zagreb when he contacted me.”_

_Eliot sat in silence hardly believing what he was hearing. It was no wonder that Jaime had a tendency to be overly cruel to those he was sent to kill and torture. After being tortured by his own father it was a wonder he hadn’t turned into a serial killer. Eliot let go of Jaime and grabbed his chin. When they were staring into each other’s eyes, Eliot leaned in and gently placed his lips on the other man’s. Jaime gasped lightly but didn’t move away from the kiss. Instead he deepened the kiss eagerly. When they pulled away to get a breath of air, both of their pupils were blown wide in arousal._

_“Jaime, I promise that I will always be here for you; next to you,” Eliot said. “Forever.”_

_New tears, tears of happiness formed in Jaime’s eyes. Ever so slowly he pulled Eliot down on the bed with him. When Eliot went down willingly, Jaime began to undress both of them while straddling Eliot’s waist. Eliot couldn’t help but let out a moan of pleasure as their groins met. Ever so slowly, Jaime bent down and kissed Eliot with enough passion to knock the wind out of both of them. This was where he belonged, in Eliot’s loving embrace; forever._

**Present Day**  
Eliot climbed into the car with Chapman the next morning with an angry look on his face. He was less than happy to be in such close proximity to the man once again. It had been years since he had last seen him and now he had seen him twice in two days. That was entirely too much exposure. It brought complicated feelings back to the surface that Eliot thought he had left behind in San Lorenzo when he had left.

“D.C.’s got a lot of traffic cams. Tell me about the car,” Eliot said, wanting to get down to business as fast as possible.

“Stolen in Virginia. After this, we load it onto a freighter, and it gets dumped into the Atlantic,” Chapman said, he gestured towards the glove box. “Gun’s in there.” Eliot opened the glove box and took the gun out. He turned it over, studying it.

“Shaved off serial number. Gets dumped with the car. You know how Moreau does things,” Chapman continued. Eliot had to resist the urge to vomit at the feel of the gun in his hands. Quickly he unloaded it before shoving it back in the glove box.

“Yeah, well, I don’t really like guns, so--” Eliot said, trailing off.

“Moreau said--” Chapman started but he was almost instantly cut off by a very angry Eliot.

“What’d he say? Tell me one more time what he said. You might be used to him holding your hand but he’s never had a problem with the way I work,” Eliot snapped, trying to resist the urge to break Chapman’s nose.

“I heard you’d gone soft,” Chapman taunted. As he was about to speak again, Atherton came out of his house. “We’ve been watching Atherton for weeks—out at 6:35am sharp, takes the same route to work.” The two watched for a few minutes as a little girl came running out of the house.

“Daddy!” she cried, holding out her arms.

“Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing?” Atherton said, picking up his daughter. Chapman smirked knowingly at Eliot.

“I wanted to extinguish the whole family, like we usually do. Moreau said we should wait,” Chapman said, clearly unhappy with the order he had received.

“Do everything your mom says,” Atherton said.

“Okay,” the girl replied.

“All right? Go on,” Atherton encouraged.

“Love you, Daddy!” she said, before turning around and heading back into the house.

Chapman and Eliot exchanged a glance and Eliot could hardly stomach to look at the man that sat before him. Eliot guessed that Chapman’s murderous side had really come out after he had left Moreau’s service. Eliot couldn’t believe that at one point in time he loved the man in front of him. Eliot quickly got out of Chapman’s car and quietly climbed into the back seat of Atherton’s vehicle. Chapman followed behind Atherton as planned and then pulled up next to him at a stop light. Rolling down the window he signaled to the man.

“Looks like you’ve got a flat back there,” Chapman called. Atherton groaned.

“Oh, god,” Atherton said, taking a quick look out his window. 

While he was pulling his head back in the car, Eliot quietly emerged in the back seat and twisted Atherton’s neck quickly making a sickening crunch, though he made sure that it was a non-fatal twist. As fast as he had gotten into Atherton’s car, he made his way back into Chapman’s car and slammed the door shut, clearly still angry.

“Go over thirty five and I’ll kill you,” Eliot snarled.

The ride back to the hotel was spent in a tense silence between the two and Chapman knew better than to try and make conversation, no matter how snarky he was feeling. Eliot cast a sideways glance over at the man and saw him angrily wipe at his face. In that moment, Eliot knew that they were both thinking of the day Eliot had broken the promise to Chapman to forever be his rock. That was the day they had truly become enemies, rather than partners.

_San Lorenzo, 2003  
Eliot stood before Moreau who was looking less than pleased. He was clearly very angry but had made no move to kill Eliot which was surprising. Eliot had returned to Moreau’s villa after having been sent to kill General Lawrence Flores and his family. However, things had not gone as planned. When Eliot had faced Flores, something had broken inside of him. He had unloaded his guns and fallen to his knees, tears cascading from his eyes. After talking to the General for the better part of an hour he had made his final decision. He would leave Moreau, even if that mean facing certain death. Anything was better than being constantly asked to kill innocents. Eliot had been thankful that Flores was a kind and forgiving man. _

_Now standing before Moreau, he had no idea what to expect. Usually Eliot would be the one coming in to execute the person who betrayed Moreau. However, it seemed unconventional to have Eliot commit suicide which, as cruel as he was, Moreau couldn’t bear to see. Eliot figured that Jaime would be the one asked to kill him, though that wouldn’t most likely backfire and turn into Jaime asking Moreau to kill him too. For a long while Eliot stood in the center of the study while Moreau leaned up against his large and ornate desk._

_“Eliot, I don’t even know how to begin to tell you how much this betrayal hurts me. You have spent the past three years protecting and serving me. What suddenly changed?” Moreau asked, running his fingers through his hair._

_“I’m not like your other men. I can’t rest easy knowing that I’ve killed innocent people; women and children. It makes me sick and standing in front of Flores and his family, I just froze. One day freezing like that will get me killed,” Eliot said. “I can’t kill for you anymore. I can’t be the man you need.” Moreau let out a heavy sigh._

_“Fine. Leave. But don’t you dare think about ever coming back to this villa. Don’t ask for your job back and certainly don’t make a sound about ever working for me to anyone that doesn’t already know,” Damien hissed, hoping that he would not regret the decision._

_Eliot looked surprised but quickly abandoned the study and made his way to his personal room. He grabbed his lone suite case and threw everything he owned, including the insanely expensive suits and shoes. He changed out of his current suit and put on a pair of faded jeans, boots, a black beater and a dark blue flannel over shirt. He suddenly felt more like his old self, just with a heavier heart. When he was finished he rolled his suitcase out of the room and dreaded what he was going to say when he ran into Jaime. He contemplated not saying anything; just leaving. However, no sooner had he reached the front door Jaime intercepted him with a confused look on his face._

_“Where are you going? Did Moreau give you another assignment already?” Jaime asked. Eliot looked down at the floor, tears in his eyes._

_“No, I failed him. I betrayed him. I couldn’t kill General Flores,” Eliot replied. Jaime looked confused._

_“Then where are you going with a suitcase?” he questioned, still not happy with the answer he had received. Eliot sighed and gently kissed Jaime._

_“Moreau is letting me live on the condition that I never come back. That I never see any of you ever again,” Eliot whispered. Jaime stared at him in utter horror before he slapped Eliot as hard as he could, leaving an angry red mark across his cheek and a split in the side of his lip._

_“How dare you do this to me? You are just like every other person I have given my heart to. You are just going to abandon me. Have you forgotten your promise in Tehran so soon?” Jaime snarled._

_“Jaime--” Eliot started._

_“No, Spencer,” Chapman growled at his former love. “You have lost the right to call me Jaime. If I ever see you again, you better have the decency to call me Chapman. You and I are no longer lovers and we are certainly not friends. Fuck you, Eliot Spencer.”_

_With those final words hanging in the air, Chapman stalked away, not wanting Eliot to see him finally break down and cry. Eliot watched the man he loved walk away from him, knowing that it was entirely his fault. A lump formed in his throat as he grabbed his suitcase once more and headed towards the door. He vowed that he would never make a promise to anyone ever again. He couldn’t stand the thought of crushing someone the way he had crushed both Aimee and Chapman. A single tear fell down his cheek as he walked out the front doors, not daring to look back._

**Present Day**  
Eliot surveyed the damaged that he had done to the warehouse and Moreau’s security team. Eliot knew that Chapman was the only left that he hadn’t shot. Despite the carnage that lay before him, Eliot was completely numb inside. Behind him, Eliot heard a gun cock and he slowly turned around to face Chapman.

“You said you didn’t like guns,” Chapman sneered, seeing Eliot’s guns and not lowering his own.

“I don’t,” Eliot said. “I never said I couldn’t use them.” 

He aimed his gun at Chapman and felt himself freeze just as he had when he had been sent to kill General Flores. He lowered his gun and unloaded both of them, tossing them to the side. Chapman frowned but lowered his weapon and unloaded the bullet from the chamber before putting the safety on and returning the gun to the holster under his arm. Chapman stared at Eliot for a few moments, confused once more by the man he had come to hate so much over the many years.

“You’re free,” Eliot whispered. 

“Free from what?” Chapman snapped, tempted to pull out his gun once more. However, he had seen what Eliot could do in close range fighting and it wasn’t worth the risk.

“From Moreau. If you leave right now, everyone will think you died in this warehouse shootout. You can start over wherever you want and I promise he won’t come after you,” Eliot said. 

“You’re being awfully generous,” Chapman said. “Why should I trust you?” Eliot heaved a sigh.

“Because as much as you hate me, I still love you, Jaime,” Eliot said. “I will love you forever.” Jaime choked slightly before putting his head against Eliot’s shoulder, shaking. He looked up and kissed the man gently one last time.

“Forever, Eliot,” Jaime said before he turned on his heel and ran.

**Author's Note:**

> The reason I modified the scene where Eliot actually kills Chapman is because I figured if they were at one point in time deeply in love some part of Eliot would still love him and the same goes for Chapman. This way Chapman gets out of Moreau's service by faking his death and Eliot is spared killing someone who used to mean the world to him.


End file.
